Page 29 - DUT ICGA Abstract Book

THE THE THE TRUE EXTENT OF OF THE THE THE USE OF OF FAIR VALUE WITHIN THE THE THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Tiago Jardim1 Thomas Gutmayer *2 Wayne Van Zijl 3 Warren Maroun 4
1 University of the Witwatersrand
*2 University of the Witwatersrand
3 University of the Witwatersrand
4
University of the Witwatersrand
(Affiliations: School of of Accountancy Commerce Law and and Management University of of the Witwatersrand
South Africa) *Corresponding Author: thomas gutmayer@wits ac za Abstract
Much of of of the the the literature relating to the the the development of of of accounting has been driven by the the the rise of of of neoliberalism and and focusses on on the the the theoretical aspects of of this development The concept of of stewardship and and the the the cost basis of of accounting used to be very prevalent in in fin in the the preparation of of financial statements in in fin in the the past However with the the the rise of of neoliberalism and the the the financialisation of of accounting the the the academic literature argues that fair value measurement measurement is is is is now becoming the more popular measurement measurement basis This study tests this assertion by investigating the the the extent to which the the the assets within the the the financial statements of South African companies are recognised using different measurement bases The significance of this study is is is that it focusses on the practical aspects that neoliberalism has on the the development of accounting (namely the the extent to which neoliberalism and consequently fair value is is is evident in in the the measurement basis applied to assets in in the the financial statements) whereas prior literature has largely focused on the the the theoretical aspects thereof A qualitative content analysis was used used to collect the the data on on the the various measurement bases used used for all the the the assets in fin the the the most recent financial statements of the the the JSE top-100 companies This study was limited to to one financial year In addition the the sample consists only of JSE-listed companies meaning that the the findings may not necessarily hold true for small or or medium-sized companies The findings of this paper indicate that despite the the rise of of neoliberalism (which favours the the use of of market valuations as as as a a a a a a a a a a measurement basis) cost basis of of accounting still accounts for the the the majority of of all the the the assets recognised by companies in in their financial financial statements The paper contributes to the growing body of literature on on financial financial accounting and provides empirical evidence on the the use of of different measurement bases including the the prevalence of of fair value KEYWORDS: cost basis fair value neoliberalism stewardship Book of Abstracts 27